There are many different commercially available telephone subscriber services. Examples of such services are call forwarding services, automatic recall services, the possibility of speaking-in messages and then monitoring the messages, transmitting data via the telephone network, and so on.
Such services are currently performed by executing a data program. The call forwarding service can be mentioned by way of example. In this case, the subscriber orders the service by dialling a code on his/her telephone, followed by the number to which calls shall be forwarded. In the case of Swedish subscribers, the subscriber will dial *21*123456789# when incoming calls shall be forwarded to the number 123456789. The subscriber has herewith caused the telephone exchange to execute a data program when an incoming call is connected to the number from which the service was ordered, this program detecting that a call has been connected to this latter number and reconnecting the call to the number 123456789 instead.
There is thus found for each available service a data program which is common to all those who subscribe to the service in question. This excludes the possibility of performing individual services.
The creation of a new service takes a long time to accomplish, since it entails the creation of an entirely new service.
The present invention avoids these drawbacks and provides a method which enables individual services to be created, and which also enables individual services and standard services to be created in a short period of time.
The present invention thus relates to a method of providing and performing a telephone service in which a computer system reads a calling subscriber number, said computer system being designed to perform a telephone service ordered by the subscriber of the calling number in accordance with a data program, and wherein the method is characterized in that the computer system includes a memory, or storage device, which is caused to contain a predetermined number of transactions, in the form of parts of a data program; in that the computer system collects from the storage device a number of transactions which together form a data program for performing said service; in that when the subscriber orders a service, the service is stored in the form of codes that correspond to certain transactions from a multiple of transactions; and in that said codes are caused to be stored in affiliation with said subscriber number; and in that when the subscriber number is read, the computer system is caused to fetch the transactions via said codes and to execute said transactions, thereby performing the service.